Closure latch



Sept. 14, 1965 Filed Aug. 8, 1963 B. sANDoR 3,206,241

GLOSURE LATCH 2 Sheets- Sheet l i l v I l 2+ @X2 y IN VENTOR.

3a/rz Sana/o1 ATTORNEY B. SANDOR Sept. 14, 1965 cLosuRE LATCH Filed Aug. 8, 195s 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR /e/a .522220101 Maf/4 A ZTORNEY United States Patent C) 3,266,241 CLGSURE LATCH Bela Sandor, Detroit, Mich., assigner to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 8, 1963, Ser. No. 300,857 6 Claims. (Cl. 292-229) This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly to vehicle body door locks.

One feature of this invention is that it provides an improved closure latch. Another feature of this invention is that it provides an improved closure latch having an operating member which moves bodily along a shaft between locked and unlocked positions and which pivots about the axis of the shaft in either position and operates detent release means when it pivots about the shaft in its unlocked position. A further feature of this invention is that it provides an improved closure latch having detent means for holding a bolt in latched position, an operating member which moves bodily along a shaft between locked and unlocked positions and pivots about the axis of the shaft in either position, and a multiplier lever coupled to the detent means and adapted to be operated by the operating member upon pivotal movement thereof in its unlocked position to release the detent means from holding engagement with the bolt. Yet another feature of this invention is that inside locking means are provided for shifting the operating member between its locked and unlocked positions. Yet a further feature of this invention is that outside key cylinder locking means including a locking pawl directly 'engageable with the operating member at any one of a plurality of desired positions thereon are provided for moving the operating member between its locked and unlocked positions. Yet a further feature of this invention is that cooperating abut ment means on the multiplier lever and the operating member are provided for shifting the operating member from its locked to its unlocked positions upon movement of the bolt from unlatched to latched positions to thereby accomplish automatic undogging.

These and other features of the closure latch of this invention will be readily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side elevational View of a vehicle body embodying a closure latch according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG- URE l;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 3 3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a partially broken away view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 4 4 of FIGURE 2 and showing the latch in unlocked condition; and

FIGURE 5 is a view of a portion of FIGURE 4 showing the latch in locked condition.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body 1t) includes a front door 12 which is hinged at its forward edge 14 to the body for swinging movement between a closed position as shown and an open position, not shown. Door 12 is held in closed position by a door latch generally designated 16 according to this invention. Latch 16 may be operated from out side the body by a conventional outside locking handle 18 secured to the outer panel `of door 12 and embodying a conventional push button assembly 2li and may be operated from inside the body by means of a conventional remote handle 22. Latch 16 may be placed in a locked condition from the exterior of the body by a conventional key cylinder 24 and may be placed in locked conventional garnish molding button 26.

3,206,241 Patented Sept. 14, 1965 lCC Referring now to FIGURES 2 through 5 of the drawings, the latch 16 includes a main frame or plate 28 which is adapted to abut the rear jamb face or wall 30 of doot 12 and to be bolted thereto at a number of places at 32. An auxiliary frame or plate 34 is located in spaced relationship to the plate 30 and is provided with laterally extending anges or tabs 36 which space the plate 34 from the plate 28 and are secured thereto in a conventional manner such as by staking or otherwise. A bolt shaft 38 extends between the plates 28 and 34 and pivotally mounts a fork type bolt 40. When the bolt is in latched position as shown in FIGURE 4, the throat of the bolt receives the shank 42 of a headed striker pin 44 which is secured to the body pillar wall juxtaposed to the wall 30 of door 12. The head of the striker pin rides on a guide shoe 46 which is slidably mounted on a shaft 48 extending between a pair of iianges of the plate 34 and spring biased inwardly of the door 12. The plate 28 is cut away at 48 to allow for entry of the striker pin within the throat of the bolt and the wall 30 of the door is likewise cut away in a complementary manner. For more specific details of the bolt and the striker pin, reference may be had to the copending application of Edwin H. Klove, Ir. et al., Serial No. 273,423, led April 16, 1963.

A coil torsion spring Si) surrounds the shaft 38, with one end thereof being hooked over a notched lateral tab 52 of the bolt and the other end thereof being hooked within a tab S4 of the plate 2S to continually bias the bolt toward unlatched position or clockwise as viewed in FIGURE 4. The bolt is held in latched position against the action of the spring 59 by means of a detent or lever 56 which is pivoted at 58 on the plate 23 and includes a depending foot or arm 60 engageable with either a foot 62 or 64 of the bolt 40 to hold the bolt either in latched `or safety positions. The detent 56 is coupled to a multiplier lever 66 which is pivoted at 67 to the plate 28 and provided with a lateral tab -or flange 68 received between a pair of legs of the detent 56. A coil torsion spring 69 hooked between the lever 66 and plate 28 biases the lever 66 into engagement with the detent and biases the detent into engagement with the bolt. The multiplier lever 66 is operated by an outside `operating lever or member generally designated 70 which in turn is actuated from the exterior of the body by the push button assembly 20.

The plate 28 is provided with an extension portion 72 and a pin or shaft 74 extends between a pair of lateral flanges 76 of the extension portion. The lever 70 is provided with a pair of laterally extending apertured flanges 78 which receive the shaft 74 therethrough to mount the lever 70 on the shaft 74 for axial sliding movement therealong and pivotal movement therewith about the axis of the shaft regardless of the axial position of -the member 70. The lever 7) is keyed to the shaft 74 for sliding movement therealong by means of a key or rib 79 on the shaft received within a slot opening to the aperture of the lower flange 78 as best shown in FIG- URE 3. A coil torsion spring 8i) surrounds the shaft 74 and is hooked between a key or rib on the shaft and a flange of the extension portion 72 to locate the shaft 74 and member 7i) in their position as shown4 and resist movement thereof in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 3.

As best shown in FIGURE 3, the lower ange 78 of member 70 is provided with a foot or arm 81 which normally lies in the path of an opstanding arm or foot 82 of the multiplier lever 66 when the lever 70 is in its unlocked position as shown in FIGURE 4 but is located above the arm S2 of the multiplier lever when the lever 7@ is in its locked position as shown in FIGURE 5. The lever 70 includes a rather wide flange portion 84 which is adapted to be engaged by the push rod S6 of the push button assembly 2G to swing the lever 7G about the axis of shaft 7d so that the foot 81 of the lever will pick up foot $2 of the multiplier lever and swing the multiplier lever about the pivot 67 to in turn swing the detent 56 counterclockwise about the pivot 58 as viewed in FG- URE 4 and release the detent from the bolt 38 to allow the bolt to move to unlatched position.

The outside locking means for moving the lever 79 between locked and unlocked positions includes a pawl or lever SS secured to the inner end of the key cylinder 24 and received Within a notch 99 in a lateral iiange 92 of the lever 70. Another notch 94 is also provided in the iiange 92 and additional notches may also be provided so that the key cylinder Z4 may be positioned at various locations on the outer panel of door 12 without having to change the location of the latch 16.

The member 7G is moved between locked and unlocked positions from the inside of the body by means of a locking lever 96 which is pivoted at 98 on the plate 34. A rod lil@ extends between an apertured lateral tab 1*@2 of the lever and the garnished molding button 25 to swing the lever 96 between an unlocked position as shown in FIGURE 4 and a locked position as shown in FIGURE 5, with the lever being selectively and alternately held in either of these positions by a conventional over-center type torsion spring 1M hooked between the lever and the frame 34. The lever 9u includes a pair of lateral spaced tabs 166 which straddle the lower flange 73 of the lever 7i) and engage either the upper surface thereof or the lower surface thereof to shift the lever 70 between its locked and unlocked positions upon movement of the member 96 between its locked and unlocked positions.

The latch 16 further includes the features of automatic undogging and keyless locking. Assume now that the door 12 is in an open position and the lever 7) is moved to its locked position either by actuation of the key cylinder 24 or the garnish molding button 26. Thereafter, when the door is closed the foot 60 of the dent 56 will ratchet past the feet 64 and 62 of the bolt 3S as the bolt moves to latched position to intermittently swing the detent 56 in a counterclockwise direction and in turn intermittently swing the multiplier lever 66 in a clockwise direction. When the lever 7@ is in a locked position as shown in FIGURE 5, it will be noted that a lateral ange or tab 1h55 of the flange 92 underlies a lateral tab 116 provided on an arm or foot 112 of the multiplier lever 66. Thus the iirst time that the multiplier lever 66 swings in a clockwise direction, the tab 110 will engage the tab 108 to shift the lever 7i) downwardly along the shaft 74 to its unlocked position.

Keyless locking is accomplished by depressing the push button assembly 2) as the door is closed to swing the lever '70 clockwise about the axis of shaft 74 as viewed in FiGURE 3 to thereby move the tab 108 out of the path of movement 'of the tab 110 so that the lever 7b will remain in its locked position as the door is closed.

The inside operating means for the latch 16 are conventional and comprise a lever 114 pivoted to a side flange of the frame 28 and overlying a foot or arm 116 'of the detent 56, with the lever 114 being connected in a conventional manner to the inside remote handle 22. Thus the detent 56 can be moved out of engagement with the bolt 38 regardless of whether the member 70 is in locked or unlocked condition.

Thus, this invention provides a new and improved closure latch.

I claim:

1. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support plate, latch means mounted on said plate for movement between latched and unlatched positions, movable detent means for holding said latch means in latched position, means on said plate defining an axis, an operating member mounted on said plate for bodily movement along said axis between a plurality of predetermined porsitions and rotational movement about said axis in any one of said positions, a multiplier lever mounted on said support plate, means coupling said lever to said detent means to release said detent means, means coupling said lever to said operating member upon rotational movement of said operating member in one of said predetermined positions to release said detenet means, and means coupling said multiplier lever to said operating member when said 'operating member is in another of said lpositions to bodily move said operating member from said another of said positions to said one of said positions upon movement of said detent means independently of movement of said operating member.

2. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support plate, latch means mounted on said plate for movement between latched and unlatched positions, movable detent means for holding said latch means in latched position, means on said plate dening an axis, an operating member mounted on said plate for bodily movement along said axis to a plurality of positions and rotational movement about said axis in any one of said positions, a multiplier lever mounted on said support plate, iirst means coupling said lever to said detent means to release said detent means, second means coupling said lever to said operating member upon rotational movement of said operating member in one of said positions to release said detent means, means for moving said operating member to another of said positions wherein said second coupling means is ineffective to couple said lever to said operating member, and means coupling said multiplier lever to said operating member when said operating member is in said another of said positions to bodily move said operating member from said another of said positions to said one of said positions upon movement of said detent means independently of movement of said operating member.

3. A closure latch comprising, in combination, la support plate, latch means mounted on said plate for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means for holding said latch means in latched position, means on said plate defining an axis, `an operating member mounted on said plate for bodily movement along said axis between a plurality of predetermined positions and rotational movement about said axis in any one of said positions, a multiplier lever mounted on said support plate and coupled to said detent means, said lever including a first part located in abutting relationship to a rst part of said operating member when said member is in one of said positions and a second part located in abutting relationship to a second part of said operating member when said member is in another of said positions, rotational movement of said loperating member in said one position causing said rst parts to abut and causing said multiplier lever to release said detent means, rotational movement of said detent means when said operating member is in said another position causing said second parts to abut and to move said operating member from said another position to said one position.

4. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support plate, latch means mounted on said plate for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means for holding said latch means in latched position, means on said plate defining an axis, an operating member mounted on said plate for bodily movement along said axis to a plurality of positions and rotational movement -about said axis in any one of said positions, a multiplier lever pivotally mounted on said support and coupled to said detent means, said lever including a iirst part located in abutting relationship to a iirst part of said operating member when said member is in one of said positions and a second part located in abutting relationship to a second part lof said operating member when said member is in another of said positions, rotational movement of said operating member in said one position causing said lirst parts to abut and causing said multiplier lever to release said detent means, rotational movement of said detent means when said 'operating member is in said another position causing said second parts to abut and to move said operating member from said another position to said one position, and means for moving said operating member between said one and said another positions.

5. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support plate, latch means mounted on said plate for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means movably mounted on said plate for holding said latch means in latched position, means 'on said plate defining an axis, an operating member mounted on said plate for bodily movement along said axis between a plurality of predetermined positions and rotational movement about said axis in any one of said positions, a multiplier lever pivotally mounted on said support plate and including a plurality of arms, a irst arm being located in abutting relationship to a iirst part of said operating member when said operating member is in a first position, a second -arm being located in abutting relationship to a second part of said operating member when said operating member is in a second position, a third arm being pivotally and slidably coupled to said detent means, rotational movement of said operating member in said first position causing said rst part thereof to abut said lirst arm and swing said lever to release said detent means, movement of said detent means when said operating member is in said second position swinging said multiplier lever and causing said second arm thereof to abut said second part of said operating member to move said operating member from said second position to said rst position.

6. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a support plate, latch means mounted on said plate for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means nrovably mounted on said plate for holding said latch means in latched position, means on said plate defining an axis, an operating member mounted on said plate for bodily movement along said axis between a plurality of predetermined positions and rotational movement about said axis in any one of said positions, a multiplier lever pivotally mounted on said support plate and including a plurality of arms, a first arm being located in abutting relationship to a first part of said operating member when said operating member is in a rst position, a second arm being located in abutting relationship to a second part of said operating member when said operating member is in a second position, a third arm being pivotally and slidably coupled to said detent means, rotational movement of said operating member in said first position causing said first part thereof to abut said first arm and swing said lever to release said detent means, movement of said detent means when said operating member is in said second position swinging said multiplier lever and causing said second arm thereof to abut said second part of said operating member to move said operating member from said second position to said first position, and locking means including a locking lever cooperable with said iirst part of said operating member for moving said member to said first and second positions.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,871,049 1/59 Cockburn et al. 3,069,888 12/62 Rehkugler.

M. HENSON WOOD, IR., Primary Examiner. 

1. A CLOSURE LATCH COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A SUPPORT PLATE, LATCH MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID PLATE FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN LATCHED AND UNLATCHED POSITIONS, MOVABLE DETENT MEANS FOR HOLDING SAID LATCH MEANS IN LATCHED POSITION, MEANS ON AID PLATE DEFINING AN AXIS, AN OPERATING MEMBER MOUNTED ON SAID PLATE FOR BODILY MOVEMENT ALONG SAID AXIS BETWEEN A PLURALITY OF PREDETERMINED POSITIONS AND ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT ABOUT SAID AXIS IN ANY ONE OF SAID POSITIONS, A MULTIPLIER LEVER MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT PLATE, MEANS COUPLING SAID LEVER TO SAID DETENT MEANS TO RELEASE SAID DETENT MEANS, MEANS COUPLING SAID LEVER TO SAID OPERATING MEMBER UPON ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT OF SAID OPERATING MEMBER IN ONE OF SAID PREDETERMINED POSITIONS TO RELEASE SAID DETENT MEANS, AND MEANS COUPLING SAID MULTIPLIER LEVER TO SAID OPERATING MEMBER WHEN SAID OPERATING MEMBER IS IN ANOTHER OF SAID POSITIONS TO BODILY MOVE SAID OPERATING MEMBER FROM SAID ANOTHER OF SAID POSITIONS TO SAID ONE OF SAID POSITIONS UPON MOVEMENT OF SAID DETENT MEANS INDEPENDENTLY OF MOVEMENT OF SAID OPERATING MEMBER. 